From the high school stage to center stage, MTV follows the stories of
some of the most talented teenagers in the nation as they balance the
enormous pressures of pursuing their dreams while navigating their way
through the normal trials and tribulations of high school. Created by
Nick Lachey and Colton Gramm, the show features students from
Cincinnati's famed, School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA).
These gifted students face difficult decisions in planning for their
futures and because of their common bonds of artistic expression, form
life long friendships along the way. In this intensely competitive world
of performing arts, MTV viewers will meet dream seekers from all over --
a ballerina who dreams of dancing at the celebrated Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theatre, to a gifted hip-hop dancer who's new to the school and
chasing the dream of dancing in music videos to a student who dreams of
one day performing on Broadway. Each student is following their dream,
and the cameras will be there to capture everything that comes along in
their pursuit of their goals: The ups and downs, the adulations and the
tears, and that moment when they risk it all.

Type: Reality

Languages: English

Status: Ended

Runtime: 30 minutes

Premier: 2009-03-19

Taking the Stage - School for Creative and Performing Arts - Netflix

The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is a magnet arts
school in Cincinnati in the US state of Ohio, and part of the Cincinnati
Public Schools (CPS). SCPA was founded in 1973 as one of the first
magnet schools in Cincinnati and became the first school in the country
to combine a full range of arts studies with a complete
college-preparatory academic program for elementary through high school
students. Of the approximately 350 arts schools in the United States,
SCPA is one of the oldest and has been cited as a model for both racial
integration and for arts programs in over 100 cities. SCPA had three
different homes in its first four years, including a makeshift campus in
the Mount Adams neighborhood and another in Roselawn. In 1976, it
occupied the Old Woodward High School building, on the site of one of
the oldest public schools in the country. The school rose to national
prominence in the 1980s, but was nearly closed in the 1990s following a
series of scandals, leadership struggles, and an arson fire which
destroyed the auditorium. Its reputation recovered in the years that
followed and in 2009–10, the school was featured in the MTV reality
series Taking the Stage, filmed at the school and featuring SCPA
students. In 2010 SCPA combined with the Schiel Primary School for Arts
Enrichment to create the first kindergarten through twelfth grade (about
ages five to seventeen) arts school and first private sector/public arts
school in the US. A new facility in Over-the-Rhine was championed by the
late Cincinnati Pops Maestro Erich Kunzel and funded through a unique
public-private partnership that raised over $31 million in private
contributions to match public funding. The building features specialized
facilities for the arts and three separate theaters and is the key to
redevelopment plans for the area. Students must audition for admission;
fewer than 20 percent of those who apply each year are accepted. SCPA is
free to CPS students but also attracts tuition-paying students from
outside the district and the state. The newly combined school will serve
approximately 1,300 students in 2010, offering a curriculum designed to
prepare students for professional careers in creative writing, dance,
drama, music, technical theater, and visual art. The emphasis is on
performance, and students in every field are required to perform or
present their work in public regularly. Students compete successfully in
arts competitions locally and internationally. On standardized tests,
SCPA ranks second among Cincinnati public schools. Ninety percent of
graduating seniors continue on to college, and those students receive
one of the highest levels of scholarship funding in the city. A limited
number of extracurricular activities are offered, as students are
expected to commit significant after-school time to training and
performance. SCPA has produced notable graduates in a wide range of
artistic fields, including award-winning actors, singers, directors and
technicians.

Taking the Stage - Old Woodward and national attention (1976–1990) - Netflix

SCPA's new home was in the heart of Pendleton district in
Over-the-Rhine. One of the largest German-American neighborhoods in the
United States in the 19th century and a famed entertainment district at
that time, Over-the-Rhine had declined into an impoverished and
crime-ridden enclave for migrant Appalachians in the 20th century. By
1970, a combination of white flight and the destruction of surrounding
slums had transformed the area into Cincinnati's most infamous ghetto.
It is one of the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the
United States and the most dangerous neighborhood in Cincinnati. The
school, with its 650 students, moved into this historic but blighted
neighborhood, and its Old Woodward School building at 1310 Sycamore
Street. Woodward was one of the oldest public schools in the country,
founded as the Woodward Free Grammar School in 1831; it was named for
William Woodward, a local tanner who donated the land to provide, in his
words, “facilities to educate the children of persons who could not
afford the expense of private schooling”. The building was replaced once
in 1855, and again in 1907 when President William Howard Taft, who
graduated from Woodward in 1874, laid the cornerstone of the current
building; it opened in 1910. The site is linked to the Underground
Railroad, an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by
19th-century black slaves in the United States; Levi Coffin (known as
“The President of the Underground Railroad”) had a home there from 1856
to 1863. The five-story brick, stone, and terra cotta building is
approximately 225,000 sq ft (20,900 m2). Designed by Gustav Brach, it
was considered “an architectural gem” in its time, with some of the most
modern facilities of its day, including flush toilets, central heating,
and two swimming pools. It is graced with 12 rare Rookwood Pottery
drinking fountains from the early 1900s, gifts of the Art League,
founded in 1895, which raised dues from students who would then vote on
works of art to buy for the school. The building is part of the
Over-the-Rhine National Register Historic District, which encompasses
362.5 acres (146.7 ha) of the original German community and adjoins the
Sycamore – 13th Street Historic District, which reflects the significant
architecture associated with middle and late 19th century Greek Revival,
Queen Anne, and Italianate styles.

Woodward High School moved to a new facility in Bond Hill in 1953, and
the building became Abigail Cutter Junior High School (also known as
Cutter), named for William Woodward's wife. SCPA occupied the fourth
floor in 1976, and the entire building in 1977, displacing the Cutter
students to other public schools. It graduated its first class in 1979,
becoming the first elementary through grade twelve arts program in the
country. The first so-called “survivors”, who began in fourth grade,
graduated in 1982. SCPA continued to attract national attention, and as
a local TV special reported, “educators from all over the country
flock[ed] to Cincinnati to see how, and why, it works.” In 1981, SCPA
was invited to perform The Wiz at the National Theatre in Washington,
DC, the “Theatre of the Presidents” and oldest major touring house in
the country, becoming the first non-professional group to perform there
since it opened in 1835. SCPA student Roscoe (Rocky) Carroll won the
1981 National Endowment for the Arts Talent Search in drama and became a
Presidential Scholar in the Arts. The school received the Blue Ribbon
School of the United States Department of Education in 1984 and the
National Secondary School Merit Award in 1985. By 1985, it had been
credited as the model for arts schools in 100 cities in the US, Europe,
and Asia, and had been cited in textbooks as a model of excellence in
school integration. The school relied heavily on donations, which made
up over ten percent of the total budget. The Friends of SCPA (commonly
known as The Friends), a nonprofit organization led by parents and
members of the business and arts communities, had been a vital source of
funding since the school's inception. In 1984, The Friends raised over
$400,000 to pay the salaries of the artistic director, technical
director, costume designer, and dance, strings, and production teachers.
In later years, The Friends raised up to $1 million each year through
special events, corporate gifts and sponsorships, advertising sales, and
other programs to support the artistic needs of the school including
staff salaries, production expenses, scholarships for private lessons,
and artists in residence.